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S39E4: Janis Ian: Breaking Silence | Clip

Why Janis Ian’s song “At Seventeen” was so universally beloved

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Janis Ian wrote “At Seventeen” about the “pain of adolescence” and not fitting in, but the themes of the song spoke to audiences of all kinds and had a universal relevance. The song later won the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.

TRANSCRIPT

- It's not just, she's talking about the pain of adolescence and the pain of feeling like an ugly duckling and the pain of not being in the in crowd or whatever, it's also about being the tall, blonde, blue-eyed cheerleader.

♪ Remember those who win the game ♪ ♪ Lose the love they sought to gain ♪ - I was the cheerleader.

(laughs) I was the girl that Janis sang about in "At Seventeen."

I was a good girl who was dating the bad boy.

♪ Their small town eyes will gape at you ♪ ♪ In dull surprise when payment due ♪ - And I don't care if you're super handsome, beautiful, of you're smart or you're you're dumb.

Everybody feels like a piece of [bleep] in some kinda way.

- I was a very weirdo kid growing up in the eighties and nineties in the Midwest, and all of my peers were listening to Nirvana and Guns N' Roses, and I, for some reason, was this little sad closeted kid who was listening to Joan Baez and Phil Ochs and Janis Ian by candlelight.

(laughs) The line that always made me laugh, because if we didn't laugh, we would almost cry, was the line, "To those whose names were never called when choosing sides for basketball."

♪ And those whose names were never called ♪ ♪ When choosing sides for basketball ♪ - I was never picked, (laughs) any sports team.

♪ When dreams were all they gave for free ♪ ♪ To ugly duckling girls like me ♪ - I mean, I was that ugly duckling girl, (laughs) and so the song hit me pretty hard.

♪ Inventing lovers on the phone ♪ - The fact that Janis had such a huge hit and such an iconic impact with that song, I think, speaks to its universal relevance.

(audience clapping)